Victorians might have to sort their rubbish into six bin crates to fix the state's recycling woes.
That's one of the "best practice" solutions Infrastructure Victoria flagged in a report on Monday to improve the state's current crippled co-mingled system.
The best option involves separating at least five types of materials, including organics, plastics, paper and card, glass, metals, at the source, said in an interim report released on Monday.
Homes would still need a regular waste bin, too, bringing the total number of bins to six. Currently, households generally have three bins from green, mixed and household waste.
"Victoria's current co-mingled system does not produce sufficiently clean streams to support end markets for recycled materials," Infrastructure Victoria says.
But chief executive Michel Masson also said there were opportunities for investment, new processes and community action to solve the problem.
"To waste less and recycle more, governments, communities and businesses all need to play their parts. We have all learnt to use less water and power, now we have to apply the same principles to waste," Mr Masson said.
Victorians nearly doubled the total waste generated between 2000 and 2018 to 13.4 million tonnes a year, from 7.4 million tonnes, the interim report said.
Australian Associated Press
